


Cultural Exchange

by whenyoudesertme (phrenk)



Category: Arashi (Band), Japanese Actor RPF, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-17
Updated: 2013-02-17
Packaged: 2017-11-29 15:24:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/688490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phrenk/pseuds/whenyoudesertme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Aiba came in, calling his greeting as he slipped off his shoes, the first thing he saw in his family's living room was a small, expressionless stranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cultural Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> Satisfies my prompt 'cultural exchange' for Rainbowfilling. Thanks to dear kinoface for looking this over! ♥ (I tagged this as swearing because there is a curse word but otherwise it is not teen and up.) Cross-posted [here](http://whenyoudesertme.livejournal.com/30127.html)!

When Aiba came in, calling his greeting as he slipped off his shoes, the first thing he saw in his family's living room was a small, expressionless stranger.

"Huh?" he said, tilting his head. Then, possibly because Aiba couldn't really imagine anything going wrong in his family home, but also because nothing else came to mind, he exclaimed, "Hi!"

The stranger's eyes widened, flicking to Aiba's face, down to his feet, and back up slowly. He still didn't speak, so Aiba circled the sofa warily and peeked into the kitchen, dim in the fading light of the day. "Mom? Umm..."

No one else seemed to be around, and the stranger was utterly out of place but just as utterly nonthreatening, so Aiba sidled over to sit beside him.

After a moment of Aiba staring at him and the stranger staring off into the distance, the man's fingers began to tap against his thigh to some song in his head. Somehow this made Aiba feel less off-balance, so he said again, "Hi!"

This time the stranger actually made eye contact, and for a moment Aiba thought he could read amusement, but then there was nothing.

"Do you... speak Japanese?" Aiba said in careful English. "Hallo?"

The man's lips twitched as he held Aiba's gaze, but he said nothing. His fingers continued their tapping, so Aiba leaned in and asked, "Are you playing a song? Do you play guitar, or oh, the drums? I played saxophone!"

The stranger scrubbed a hand over his face, but when he was done no expression lingered there. He looked anywhere between 17 and Aiba's own 24, and Aiba tried desperately to remember his mom saying anything about a visitor before he'd gone off to Tokyo to visit friends.

Nothing came to mind, but thinking of his mom reminded him of his manners, so he said politely, "Can I get you something to drink?"

Already anticipating the lack of response, he leaped to his feet and went to get his guest something, switching the lights on as he went. Some sense of mischief had him reaching for his own concoction in the much-avoided glass jar, possibly because of the flash of amusement in the stranger's eyes, possibly in the hope of finally provoking some reaction. He poured a glass full of the stuff and took it out to the living room.

The stranger looked at him, then looked at the drink, and his mouth opened. Then it closed again, and he reached out and picked up the glass.

Aiba held his breath as the stranger sipped, then stifled giggles as the stranger choked. "Sorry, sorry! I thought maybe you'd like--" At a scathing look, Aiba bit the words back, though he couldn't quite get rid of his smile. That aghast face had been too cute.

"Ah, Maa-kun!" Aiba's mother bustled in with her arms full of bags, and Aiba quickly trotted over to help. "I see you've met Nino; he's just a year younger than you. He'll be staying with us for three weeks."

"Three weeks?" Aiba repeated, glancing back at this Nino. The glass of Masaki-drink had been replaced neatly on the table and there was no lingering trace of emotion on that pale face.

His mom whapped him on the shoulder. "Is that what we say to a guest?"

Aiba bowed dutifully to Nino. "Please take care of me." Then he hissed to his mother, "Does he speak Japanese?"

His mom glanced at Nino, who raised his eyebrows as if in question. Finally she said only, "Hmmm...," before changing the subject. "He'll be sleeping in with you. Take him up to your room and rearrange your stuff so he'll have space, okay?"

Aiba took the bags into the kitchen and left them on the counter, then turned to go get his guest, only to find that Nino was right behind him. It hadn't been clear when they'd been sitting, but Aiba was much taller than Nino, and Aiba stepped back hastily, confused by the nearness of this slender, taciturn stranger.

In accented English, Nino said, "Nice to meet you."

Aiba beamed, happy to hear his voice, and repeated the phrase with several bows before leading the way up to his room.

Once there, he chattered away in Japanese as he shifted his things over to one side, pointed out where the futons were, and made elaborate hand-signs (possibly a little obscene) to show where to go for the toilet.

Nino said nothing, but he smiled furtively once in a while, smiles Aiba only caught because he was looking for them. When Aiba suggested walking to the local bathhouse together, Nino scrunched his face expressively, so Aiba mimed bathing as best he could, which won another one of those small smiles.

Ten minutes later they were strolling down the street toward the bathhouse. Aiba pointed out the sights, including his family's restaurant, the houses of his neighbors, the best convenience store of the two nearby, and the way to walk to get to the train station. Nino actually nodded after Aiba acted out the part of an inbound train, and this emboldened Aiba to try to find out some information.

"Where," he started in English, then promptly foundered, not having the necessary vocabulary to fill out a sentence. Instead he repeated, "Where," and pointed at Nino. In a flash of genius, he put together, "Where... you?"

After a blank-faced moment, Nino said, "Los Angeles."

"Ahhh," Aiba said, nodding profusely. "America!" He remembered a tourism campaign from a while back, and said grandly, "Welcome to Japan."

Nino's lips quirked, and he said in Japanese, "Thank you."

Aiba laughed, saying in English, "Very good very good!"

He switched to Japanese as they neared the bathhouse, saying, "We'll have you speaking Japanese in no time, Nino! Three weeks, that's ages, and I speak Japanese even in my sleep, not English. Well, I think so! I wonder if anyone can speak another language, but only when they're asleep?"

He caught a funny expression on Nino's face at this, but they were at the door so he merely held it for his guest and followed him in after.

Nino seemed to have no confusion about the proper bathhouse etiquette, which had Aiba wondering if they had public baths in the US after all, and soon they were naked and occupied scrubbing themselves clean.

Out of his clothes, Nino was even paler and more delicate-looking, though with incongruously stubby hands and feet, and Aiba had been startled to feel the need to avert his eyes. He didn't even offer to wash Nino's back like he'd been hospitably planning.

They rinsed off at nearby showers, and Aiba stole another look. Nino's arms were wiry and thin, but his legs were softly rounded even in their slenderness, and he seemed to have a very Japanese lack of modesty in the public bathhouse that had Aiba, generally impossible to shame, accidentally catching sight of Nino's junk and having to suppress the urge to bolt for the water. Instead he walked carefully ahead without looking back, feeling strange.

Nino settled in beside him, sighing in satisfaction, and plopped his hand-towel down on his head. "Nice..." he sighed, and Aiba gave a wordless sound of agreement that needed no translation.

Once they were in the water, Aiba felt a little less silly, especially if he didn't look at Nino's collarbones and the way the hot water had a flush spreading up his neck.

*

Afterward, in an attempt to make Nino feel at home, Aiba took him out for the most American food he could imagine.

When he'd suggested hamburgers to Nino, the latter had actually taken his hand and squeezed it, causing Aiba's heart to thump in unruly fashion.

Now they sat in the cheap fast-food joint with Nino on his second burger, his eyes blissfully closed as he chewed. Aiba had paid, which was as he'd planned, but he'd thought Nino would at least make a move for his wallet--but that thought was less pressing than the need to stay hidden from outside view. Aiba couldn't think of what his mom would say if she knew he'd taken a guest here when they owned their own restaurant.

Still, the risk seemed worth it. Nino looked more animated than Aiba had yet seen him, his eyes sparkling and his hands brushing Aiba's once in a while as if in gratitude or simply in place of speech. Aiba munched his fries and tried to think about things other than cute hands and that spot on Nino's chin that seemed to catch his eye every other second.

He pointed at the burger and demanded in English, "What...?"

Nino rolled his eyes and enunciated, "Hamburger."

Aiba laughed, and a partially chewed fry fell out of his mouth. Nino tried to choke down his own laughter, but Aiba was elated that he couldn't quite do it and had to lift a hand to cover his smile instead.

Flush with victory, Aiba pointed to the fallen fry. "What?"

To Aiba's shock, Nino reached over and smacked him lightly on the head, saying in forceful Japanese, " _Idiot._ "

Aiba gaped. "You... you..."

Nino opened his eyes very wide and gave the most innocent of shrugs. "Anime."

After squinting at him suspiciously, Aiba scoured the room for something more difficult to test Nino's English skills, but Nino passed every test Aiba set him, as far as Aiba could tell. Accordingly, Aiba made him teach him English for all the naughty words Aiba could act out. They spent two hours in the restaurant mooching off their free refills, repeating dirty words at each other in both languages, and laughing until their stomachs hurt.

*

'Thank you', 'idiot', and 'anime' seemed to be the extent of Nino's Japanese, and he didn't show much aptitude for gaining more as he clearly let the words slip away after repeating them for Aiba's amusement. Aiba, on the other hand, chose a select few English words to commit to memory forever, and he was mumbling them to himself as they finally headed home.

Nino bumped against him, and when Aiba looked down, that face he'd just seen laugh with such unaffected charm was strangely shuttered. To see that smile again, Aiba said proudly, " _Nipple._ "

Nino replied, "Idiot," then reached out and took Aiba's hand in his.

Aiba stopped in his tracks to stare at their hands, but somehow the message to stop moving didn't make it to his feet. He ended up stumbling, saved from falling only by Nino's strong grip, and then Nino was tugging him along toward home instead of letting him overthink anything.

It was a lovely night, almost too warm but for the breeze, and Aiba couldn't help but go with it, even though he rationalized it by chalking the contact up to cultural differences between Japan and the US. With butterflies in his stomach, he tangled his fingers with Nino's and squeezed.

They walked home hand in hand, jostling each other companionably every once in a while, and Aiba kept practicing his English.

" _Fuck._ "

Nino laughed delightedly.

*

After scolding them for being out for hours without calling, Aiba's mom sent them both up to his room to get ready for bed. Aiba asked her about Nino as Nino used the toilet, but her information wasn't all that satisfying.

"He was going to film school in America and he's here for three weeks to shoot a, a what's-it-called, a short film? And he found us on that site I signed up on for exchange students, and wrote a very nice email to ask me to accept him even though he isn't one, not really."

"How'd you read it?" Aiba asked, confused.

"It was in Japanese, of course. He probably got someone to help him write it, such a polite boy."

Just then Nino came down the stairs in his pajamas, and Aiba was distracted and only said, "Yes..." to his mother, then, "Goodnight."

She made a small sound of amusement, then said fondly, "Goodnight, boys. Oh, I can probably spare you from the restaurant in the mornings, Masaki."

Aiba gave her a confused look but wasn't about to question such benevolence, so he followed Nino up the stairs to his bedroom.

Once inside, just he and Nino alone in his room, when they'd just been holding hands, Aiba felt like he'd had twelve cups of coffee and needed to jump up and down to release tension. He settled for changing into his pajamas as Nino set up the futons.

After having some difficulty with the buttons of his shirt, Aiba turned back to find that Nino had made one big sleeping area for both of them.

"Ah, Nino! Have you not slept with futons before? They don't go on top of each other like that, we sleep apart a bit, here, let me..."

Nino stepped on the futons and Aiba fell back with thwarted momentum. Lifting his chin, Nino sniffed with his whole face in an expression of adorable tyranny, then pushed the blanket to his feet and lay down like there was no further discussion to be had.

"We... we're not just supposed to sleep together..." Listening to himself, Aiba blushed deeply, then whirled to find somewhere else to sleep, anywhere but in such close contact with someone who discombobulated him so thoroughly on such short acquaintance.

"Idiot."

Aiba turned back around and shook his finger at Nino. "You rascal, stop saying that to me! I don't think you even know what it really means, you're just repeating things from anime--"

Nino interrupted him with a loud clearing of his throat, and Aiba fell silent. Nino pointed at Aiba, lifted his eyebrows and held them there pointedly, then repeated, " _Idiot._ "

Unable to take this deliberate provocation without retaliating, Aiba pounced. He tickled Nino until the latter was almost crying from soundless laughter, but Nino still gasped out 'idiot' with every breath he could steal. A slip of Aiba's hand in the bedding later and he fell heavily on Nino, knocking their foreheads together hard.

"Ouch," he muttered, rubbing his forehead, then realized he was _on top of Nino_ , their bodies in contact from chests all the way down to feet. It was an electric shock of recognition, and Aiba could barely bring himself to open his eyes, because if he opened his eyes he'd have to move away.

Nino dumped him over onto his side, making a winded noise of complaint. Aiba grunted at the impact, his eyes flying open, only to watch as Nino drew the blanket up over both of them.

If he got up to turn out the light, he'd have no excuse to crawl back in with Nino, so Aiba said quietly, "Goodnight, Nino."

Nino made a smug, sleepy noise in return, and Aiba was relieved--and disappointed--that he didn't make a move toward Aiba except a brush of hands that could have been accidental anyway.

*

When Aiba woke in the night, the lights were off. Nino must have gotten up to deal with that eventually, which made Aiba glad because his mom would have come by otherwise and Aiba didn't want to think what she'd do if she saw them sleeping like--

Sleeping like--

Aiba was very warm. It was dark, but it seemed to magnify everything Aiba felt, and what he felt was _Nino_. Nino was wrapped around him, sound asleep, his head on Aiba's chest and his arm holding on tight to Aiba's waist. His leg must have been flung across Aiba's but somehow he'd managed to bend it at such an angle that his heel was tucked under Aiba's knee, leaving his thigh up over Aiba's crotch (Aiba tried to take deep, calming breaths) and making it very difficult for Aiba to move.

He didn't want to move, anyway, except maybe to wake Nino up and kiss him, but Aiba was a little overwhelmed by the pace of everything, from meeting Nino so suddenly to waking up being intensely cuddled in just a few hours. They didn't speak the same language. He didn't even know Nino's full name. They were both male, and in his parents' house, and his mom might know that Aiba swung that way but his dad and brother didn't, and maybe Nino was just being friendly in some strange American way, and he was leaving in three weeks anyway, and Aiba shouldn't get attached.

It was dark, and he was even more sentimental than usual in the dark, but he thought of those birds with broken wings that his grandparents had let him try to heal when he was little. They'd given such stern warnings not to name the birds or treat them as pets, because when they were better he had to let them go. Just thinking about it now pinched at Aiba's chest, because the warnings hadn't altered Aiba's instinctive love, and after that joyful moment of flight regained he'd always cried bitterly.

"I can feel you thinking," Nino grumbled drowsily, and his hand came up to close Aiba's eyes, a little clumsy in the dark but gentle nonetheless. "Just sleep now, idiot." He brought his hand back down to curve around Aiba's waist under the covers.

Aiba held his breath for a moment, knowing he should pull away and knowing that he wouldn't. As reckless with his heart as ever, he took that gentle hand and held it, smiling as he fell back to sleep as ordered.

*

Aiba woke early the next morning with Nino still twined around him. For a few pleasant moments, he didn't think about anything. Then he did.

He pried the small, strong arm from around his waist and sat up to wait.

Eventually Nino's eyes peeked open, then immediately shut as he yawned hugely. He then proceeded to blink up at Aiba, hair tousled and eyes soft, looking very young and winsome in the morning light.

Aiba wasn't fooled. He was uncomfortably aware that he was falling head over heels for this weasel at an alarming rate, but he'd come to a conclusion that he wouldn't forget no matter how angelic the doe eyes Nino employed.

"You speak Japanese!" he accused.

Nino stretched, then met Aiba's eyes with an impish smile. "Took you long enough, Aiba-chan."

*

Ten things Aiba discovers about Nino in three weeks, in chronological order:

1\. Nino speaks Japanese.  
2\. When Nino was fiddling with his phone at the burger joint, he was asking Aiba's mom if Aiba could have time off from the restaurant to help with Nino's movie.  
3\. Nino's full name is Ninomiya Kazunari.  
4\. Nino has known he's gay since he was fifteen.  
5\. Nino was born and raised in Tokyo and only moved to Los Angeles when he was twenty to go to film school.  
6\. When Nino calls Aiba an idiot, it means he likes him.  
7\. Nino is moving back to Tokyo after he's done shooting his short film.  
8\. Nino never does reach for his wallet.  
9\. When Nino wants something, he isn't above using threats to get it, and when Nino _really_ wants something, he often can't get the words out even as threats.  
10\. Nino _really_ wants Aiba to come see him in Tokyo.


End file.
